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beermas

moths

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On the fourth day of Beermas I went and got for me
Four silent moths
Three frisky parrots
A bottle but not two cans
And more than half a liter of perry

I wavered between the four moths and something louder for calling birds, but the moths wouldn’t let me push them aside in the end. They’re fine, too, all four of them staring into the middle of the design. The silence is deafening I’m sure. It’s a helles bock from Naparbier, very reliable for good stuff, in collaboration with Mahrs Bräu. Getting an authentic German brewery to help on a German style beer may just be a selling point for Napar, which has produced excellent beers of almost all styles, as mentioned. Maybe Motte have some extra Teutonic touch.

The brightness of the beer contrasts with the shadowy glumness of the can, but is appropriate for the helles style. A nice cap of head comes up while pouring, although it dissolves quickly. The aroma is very subtle, but I can pick out some grain and fresh bread. The mouthfeel is oddly thick and heavy, there’s even a little whisper of licorice, so this is the bock experience coming out. It leaves hardly any aftertaste. In spite of the weight of the beer, it goes down very easily and cleanly. It has a depth of flavor I associate with bocks more than with helles, and in spite of the sunny appearance, I can feel a gravity around it that goes with the season. Fourth day down!

parrots

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On the third day of Beermas I went and got for me
Three frisky parrots
A bottle but not two cans
And more than half a liter of perry

I had some trouble deciding where the parrots should go, and in they end they got day three. There are three of them after all, not to mention I couldn’t find a better match. Maybe we could imagine them in French Polynesia. As befits the tropical label and the habitat of many parrots, this is a fruited sour, made by the geniuses at Basqueland. Parrot Head Punch, they call it. Actually, punch is a pretty seasonal drink, so in spite of being bright, light, and probably full of papaya, this might be a fitting beer for our season.

There’s the sulfur I often get from fruited sours, but the color is very happy and carefree. It’s pinkish with a hint of orange, looks like an expensive cocktail actually. Up close there’s a clear aroma of sesame, which I think is a first for me. It’s definitely sour and fruity, and I don’t think I detect any sesame seed taste. What fruit could it be? It has a dryness that some berries give you, and the snappy sour makes me think of cranberry. It’s a clean tasting sour, without any extra stickiness or candy-sour, and very light in body. It might be a good party beer, although for just having a drink in winter, it’s a little too unsubstantial for me. I know, picky, picky. Third day down!

toucan

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On the second day of Beermas I went and got for me
A bottle but not two cans
And more than half a liter of perry

This beer is calling out to be second, it’s very name is Tukan! Two…can. And it’s in a bottle. Is this one too cheap, too easy? At least it’s a bird! It’s also an IPA, so maybe we’ll have some tropical sensations to distract us from current weather. Attik has been included in beer Advent calendars, so I trust it will be up to the level of this special group.

Tropical breezes waft out immediately and the glass fills with roiling gold. There’s a pretty good head on it, very white and fluffy. With closer inspection, the aroma also contains some spicy and salty notes, caraway or rosemary maybe? The taste hits with fruit first, much like the scent, but doesn’t bring out the other spices very strongly. An aftertaste with some balancing savoriness starts to build up within a few sips, but the beer is mostly bright and sunny, with a touch of mango and melon. Day two down!

perry

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On the first day of Beermas I went and got for me
More than half a liter of perry

Oh, that’s a big bottle, quite a size for a gift! It’s also a little bit of a lazy start – perry from the pear tree, not a lot of imagination there. But just wait, there will be twisted justifications coming. This is Samuel Smith’s Organic Perry, with a very traditional looking label and lettering. It isn’t a 7 or 8 percenter, like some of those seasonal beers, but even at 5% the amount of 550ml will do a little something to ya.

Looks a lot like champagne, actually, very bubbly and frisky. It’s a little darker than most champagne you come across, though. It has a winey smell to it too, which ought to make sense given that it’s also fermented fruit. There’s a hint of sulfur lurking in that aroma, and just a puff of it in the first sip. Otherwise, it’s on the sweet side of cider, not tart like some apples will give you. The carbonation adds a little sharpness to it, pulling back on the sweetness. It’s nicer than a lot of apple ciders, having a good balance in flavor, and although it loses plenty of carbonation over time, it stays light and easy to drink, not coalescing into syrup. First day down!

T(welve)-1

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On the first day of Beermas I went and bought for me

An icy raven looking needy

It’s the first day and I have to decide between bird or fruit.  In some ways it’s the easiest one to find something to represent it.  There’s something about a wintery old raven that makes you think of some solitary place, the loneliest number if you will.  Even the name of this IPA, Hold Me Tighter, brings up feelings of isolation.  Somehow I thought Wylie had a more jovial and social image, but I’m not complaining.

Minor explosion on opening, the beer is eager to escape and better existence outside its can. It’s a very pale IPA, sort of lemony, It’s very heady, with a bright white and fluffy cloud perched on a sea of dirty lemonade. Even the aroma evokes summery lemonade more than beer, with a lemon candy scent that just tickles the nose. The taste comes as a bit of a shock, wielding a much more bitter punch than you expect. It isn’t actually that bitter, but from the aroma you don’t quite prepare for it. It’s also pretty clean and even a little dry, leaning towards a wine sensation rather than juicy, sticky modern IPA. Left standing a while, more spicy notes start to come out in the smell, but the flavor doesn’t pick up much in the way of spice. It’s the sort of beer you wouldn’t mind having with you on a break from doing work in your orchard. Of pear trees, of course. Where a crow or even a partridge could find a place.

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